SUBJECT: CROATIAN PRESIDENT SAYS ARTICLE 98 NOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000396

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE AND EUR/RPM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2016
TAGS: NATO PREL MARR HR
SUBJECT: SUBJECT: CROATIAN PRESIDENT SAYS ARTICLE 98 NOT
POSSIBLE UNTIL ICTY CONCLUDES

REF: ZAGREB 356

Classified By: Ambassador Ralph Frank for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary and Comment: During a March 23, 2006 meeting
in Zagreb with Senator Voinovich, Croatian President Mesic
said that Croatia could not address the question of Article
98 before The Hague Tribunal concludes its work. This
statement, although in accordance with what Mesic's aides
have told the Ambassador in the last two weeks, represents a
step back from what Mesic told the NATO interagency team
during its visit to Zagreb in early March, when he indicated
a readiness to take up the issue. PM Sanader appears more
willing to address Article 98 and we will encourage him to
talk to Mesic. However, without Mesic on board, it is
unlikely that GOC could sign an Article 98 agreement. End
Summary.


2. (C) Meeting with Croatian President Mesic in Zagreb on
March 23, 2006, Senator Voinovich urged Croatia to sign an
Article 98 agreement, which he said would enable the U.S. to
provide assistance for defense reform through IMET and
further Croatia's progress towards NATO membership. Mesic,
after noting that Croatia had already concluded much of its
planned defense reforms, said that Croatia would "solve"
Article 98, but not until Croatia's involvement with ICTY is
concluded. He said that he understood the rationale behind
Article 98 and could even explain that Croatia would never
find itself in a situation where the possibility of
extraditing U.S. personnel would arise. However, he feared
that public reaction to Croatia's signing an Article 98
agreement would be very negative. Mesic said that the
Croatian government could not say to its people that it has
an obligation to extradite its own citizens to The Hague
while Americans are exempted from extradition to the ICC. He
said that, although he realized the two were different, it
would have the appearances of a double standard and could not
be addressed while Croatia's involvement with The Hague was
on-going.


3. (C) Senator Voinovich said that he understood that the
decision to sign an Article 98 agreement was one that only
Croatia could make. However, he reminded Mesic that many
Senators and Members of Congress in the U.S. feel very
strongly about Article 98. He noted that when the question
of Croatia's NATO membership is raised, the fact that both
Albania and Macedonia have signed Article 98 agreements while
Croatia has not would be hard for some on The Hill to
overlook.


4. (C) Mesic's aides have intimated to the Ambassador over
the last two weeks that the President's position had changed.
His comments to Senator Voinovich are further confirmation
of his disavowal of the more forward-leaning position he took
with the USNATO interagency team and Ambassador Nuland in
early March (reftel). At that time, Mesic said that he
believed the question of ICTY was sufficiently resolved for
Croatia to begin preparatory work towards the eventual
conclusion of an Article 98 agreement.


5. (C) PM Sanader appears to be more open than Mesic on
Article 98 and we will encourage him to discuss this further
with Mesic. However, part of his previous willingness to
engage on Article 98 appeared to be linked to the softening
of Mesic's position. Politically, Sanader cannot go it alone
on this sensitive issue. Unless Mesic can be brought around,
we consider it unlikely that Croatia could sign an Article 98
agreement in the near term.
FRANK